[tawnycatz]

An uncommon species of basilisk. While not as abundant as drought basilisks, they are far from rare. They are sleeker and lack the feather crests and the chest ruff of their close relatives. They do not bury themselves in the sand and instead lounge about in the sun, waiting for unlucky creatures to pass away in the extreme heat so that they can scavenge from them. Sun basilisks have some of the largest fins in the basilisk family.

As their diet has less toxins than the drought species of basilisk, their meat is less spicy. As such they are a less desirable option for food, despite their flashy, metallic feathers.

They come in a variety of colors. These can look like any number of precious metals, though only the highly saturated and distinct are of any real interest. Most sun basilisks are shiny browns.

Copper and gold-colored sun basilisks are rare due to their saturation. While sun basilisks do not hide away as much as their cousins, due to both their lifestyle and greater defensive capabilities (those wing-feathers are sharp!), their colors still tend to be more subdued.
Silver basilisks are called such due to their pale coloration. As sun basilisks only come in assorted browns, they have a reddish cast to them under the right lighting conditions, as these are just very light brown creatures. Silver varieties of sun basilisks are sometimes confused for drought basilisks from Kurruas.
Brass basilisks are drab in coloration, but are notable for especially metallic feathers, oddly dark eyes for basilisks, and dark-tipped beaks. Karrym drought basilisks look extremely similar, and the two are sometimes confused with each other.
"Obsidian" sun basilisks are rumored to exist, possibly in Kolnavh, but due to the nature of the region this is hard to verify.

Unlike drought basilisks, these varieties are not locked by region. This is what makes the obsidian variety hard to confirm; no other coloration is found only in one location. Despite brass-colored sun basilisks being mistaken for the droughts found in Karrym, those with such coloration can be found anywhere, not just around Karrym. So it would be odd for black sun basilisks to exist, but only in one region.